Back to Nature:

The Spring of Environmental Themes in Board Gaming

Whether you’re carefully poring over the games in your friendly local game store or strolling the aisles of mass market stores in the middle of a shopping trip, it’s hard not to notice the recent trend of nature as a theme in board gaming.

Pinpointing the exact emergence of games that embrace ecology, ecosystems, and biomes is a bit tricky. But one of the games to capture the interest of gamers, while also going deeper into nature beyond mere art and design, is 2017’s Photosynthesis from Hjalmar Hach. By the time it grabbed the attention of an oft-fickle and ever-changing board gaming populace, the explosions were beginning thanks to games such as PARKS, Everdell, and Wingspan.

The emergence of these games brought double meaning to the industry term “evergreen,” which describes games that continually sell well and have long shelf lives because they appeal to both wizened and newer gamers alike. As much as the mechanics within these games blossomed, so too has the market appeal of these green themes in gaming.

From Saplings to Giants